MSE News: Government 'wants big six energy firms to hold prices'

MillicentBystander · 29 November 2013 at 7:05PM

Pemberton01 wrote: »

So if Cameron gets a freeze until mid 2015 on Energy prices and then we elect a Labour Government in the May 2015 General Election, with their promise of a 20 months price freeze, that works out at no energy price hikes until the start of 2017............mmm?

:rotfl:Classic! Happy day are here again :beer: But in all seriousness, the Govt have yet again been shown playing catch up by stealing a rival's idea. This is why Cameron is such a wishy washy PM, he's the antithesis of the Iron Lady. 'This man IS for turning...and VERY often'.

sheffield_lad · 29 November 2013 at 8:26PM

MillicentBystander wrote: »

'This man IS for turning...and VERY often'.

Is this a bad thing? It's one of the reasons I would and do vote for him. Instead of sticking to policies just to be stubborn he does change his mind. Well done Dave.

Back on topic, an issue not often debated here is keen mse's must have noticed that the fixed deals don't look in any way as good as the online deals we had previously. Grrr

I guess it's due to fewer tariffs and the lower one's getting advertised so frequently now. I am dreading my deal finishing in Jan 2014 boo!

undaunted · 30 November 2013 at 12:59PM

It's a cynical attempt to buy the next election & a sticking plaster attempt to halt Ed Millibands appeal with the promise of a sustained prize freeze.

Whether either of them deliver long term remains to be seen. I think we'll get a change of Government but quite what that entails we will similarly have to wait & see

MillicentBystander · 30 November 2013 at 7:17PM

undaunted wrote: »

It's a cynical attempt to buy the next election & a sticking plaster attempt to halt Ed Millibands appeal with the promise of a sustained prize freeze.

Whether either of them deliver long term remains to be seen. I think we'll get a change of Government but quite what that entails we will similarly have to wait & see

Ukip will very probably win Labour the next election but whether that would be with a working majority is open to doubt. Just as long as the truly awful lot led by that 'Click Negg' don't hold the balance of power again I won't mind (will they have any MPs in 2015??)

shadowspy24 · 30 November 2013 at 8:27PM

This is such a con. Cameron is pretending to do something when in reality he is doing absolutely nothing.

We've just had a massive hike in prices and we aren't due another one for exactly the amount of time Cameron has asked the energy companies to not raise them for.

So, of course the energy companies are going to agree and look like good guys and Cameron will look like a hero but in reality nothing different will happen and it would make no difference whether this intervention happened or not.

It might have been useful before the hikes....

magyar · 1 December 2013 at 2:21PM

I'm interested to know what the energy companies will do if - as expected - the government drop the ECO obligation (which most people agree costs them about £50/year per customer).

Some of the utilities have already said they will pass this saving on, but will they reduce bills for people on fixed rates?

For example, I am on npower's fixed rate until 2017 so if green taxes had gone UP in that period, they couldn't have charged me more. Thus they would probably be justified in not reducing the price now they've gone down.

But will be interesting to see what they do.

undaunted · 1 December 2013 at 5:37PM

I think you've just answered your own query maygar - I can't see them doing anything that they don't have to / can justify not doing. It's no different to what would happen if wholesale / general prices had dropped really ie you got what you had asked for, a fixed price & would have had no grounds for complaint

MillicentBystander · 1 December 2013 at 5:46PM

Why do you think fixed deals dominate the top of the switching sites?

adonis · 1 December 2013 at 5:56PM

If the politicians are so worried about how much energy is costing us, why are they not removing VAT from it?

magyar · 1 December 2013 at 6:09PM

undaunted wrote: »

I think you've just answered your own query maygar - I can't see them doing anything that they don't have to / can justify not doing. It's no different to what would happen if wholesale / general prices had dropped really ie you got what you had asked for, a fixed price & would have had no grounds for complaint

I actually agree with you completely, it's hard to complain.

However there is a reasonable argument to say that the utilities knew that the ECO obligation was going to be charged for some years and how it would apply: this is not the same as wholesale price changes which is what they were actually fixing.

As you say, doubt they'll change anything they don't have to but let's see how this pans out.

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MSE News: Government 'wants big six energy firms to hold prices'

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